Place & Purpose

At the intersection of nature and culture is place. We understand that furniture and design are an important expression of place and that good design acts in service of place.  

Fogo Island is a remote island off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. It is a place of hard rock and cold winds. Living here means being resourceful: making things that work and last. 

Fogo Islanders have made their living by fishing the unforgiving waters of the wild North Atlantic Ocean for centuries and have had to constantly adapt to survive. They embody an unrelenting sense of resourcefulness fed by a profound love of place; this history of relative isolation and self-sufficiency has shaped the Fogo Islanders of today and continues to inform the island’s economy and culture. 

On Fogo Island, we respectfully acknowledge the land on which we gather and work as the ancestral homelands of the Beothuk, whose culture has been lost forever as a result of colonization. We also acknowledge the province of Newfoundland & Labrador as the ancestral homelands of many diverse populations of Indigenous peoples, including Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit.

We commit to using our platforms to encourage a reverence for Indigenous peoples and their knowledge, and to strive for truth and healing as we move forward together on a journey towards peace and collective prosperity.

Fogo Island Workshops is a community business owned by the registered Canadian charity, Shorefast. We operate within a circular model – all our operating surpluses are reinvested for further community economic development through Shorefast’s holistic set of programs and initiatives. 

A shorefast is the line and mooring used to attach a traditional cod trap to the shore. When eighth-generation Fogo Islanders Alan, Anthony, and Zita Cobb conceived of a charity with a mission to preserve and stimulate Fogo Island’s culture and economy, they named Shorefast. The name evokes the traditional fishing term’s connections between land and sea, community and culture, individual and place. It is a metaphor: may we always be shorefast to this place. 

Visit Shorefast’s website to learn more about their programs and initiatives, and how you can help support. 

Where does your money go? 

Information about “where the money goes” is rarely available at the point of purchase. Due to the complexity of modern supply networks and ownership structures, it can be difficult to define your dollar’s impact along the input chain. 

Economic Nutrition is a concept of our parent charity, Shorefast. It is a transparency tool that shows what your money pays for and the percent of every dollar that goes to expenses like labour, materials, or marketing. It also shows where your money goes, so you can see the geographic distribution of every dollar spent. 

To learn more about Shorefast’s Economic Nutrition, visit their website.